Some Idealistic Future
by CoffeeAddict18
Summary: Draco Malfoy tries to figure his way out of the mess that is his life. Finding help from the least likely a person and finding some sort of worth along the way.


Chapter One - Lights out, Lights on.

Draco Malfoy couldn't sleep.

And for damned good reason, he was wanted by the The Ministry of Magic, The Order of The Pheonix and The Dark Lord...how he had managed to piss off so many people at once was beyond him. But piss them off he had, and now he was holed up in some underground cabin with his potions master trying to figure out a way to save his arse.

It had all started after his father had been captured, the stupid man had actually got himself thrown in Azkaban. Draco's mother had been distraught, why he didn't know, Lucius had never treated his mother with any kind of respect or caring, he would have thought his mother would be relived to be rid of him, but she wasn't. The enitre time he was growing up, and even now he always wondered why his father treated his mother the way that he did...and why she took it. Lucius had affairs with countless numbers of women, not bothering to hide any of them, he beat Narcissa like she was some lowly servant and not his wife and mother of his child, and Draco had never once heard him apologize.

He had grown up thinking this was normal, that this was how every respectable, pureblooded family lived. It was all he had ever seen at his house and at his 'friends' homes as well, but there was always this nagging feeling that it wasn't right, it just wasn't right.

Despite all of this his mother had been a wreak after his father was captured and it was up to him to do something...anything really to make it better. Hell of responsibility for a sixteen year old wizard, but he had taken it, not thinking at all about what could happen in the future. Draco stepped in for his father, at home and in the circle of Death Eaters, taking Lucius' place in front of The Dark Lord.

His hand immeditly went to the black mark burned into his forearm, a mark of loyalty, what a bunch of fucking nonsense. As a kid he remembered admiring his father's dark mark, it had a powerful quality to it, mysterious, dark and dangerous. Now he would give anything to give it back, to remove the last year from his life and start over.

It couldn't happen though, he had to live with the fact that his mother was proably dead, why would The Dark Lord keep her around with Lucius in Azkaban and Draco on the run? He had tried to murder his headmaster and several classmates for his own damn glory, and ended up fucking up his own life even more than it already was.

If he had only taken Dumbledore's deal, if he only had listened to that voice in his head that told him over and over that he was being used...the voice, he belived it what made his attempts to kill the headmaster so futile, the old man was right, his heart simply wasn't in it.

As much as he hated to admit it, he didn't want to kill anyone, ever. It was his pride that kept him from going for help, when he got in too deep it seemed the only option was to go deeper and deeper untill eventually everything had to work out.

It didn't.

And now he was stuck in a massive rut with no one to pull him out, it was bad enough that he got himself into this but he had also brought Severus down with him. Guilt wasn't something Draco was taught to feel because Malfoy's were never wrong...or so he had been told, guilt, however is what kept him awake on nights like this, forcing him to remember the painful events of the past year.

Draco and Severus had exhausted every option, going over them more times than he cared. They couldn't go to The Ministry, Severus had murdered one of the greatest wizards of all time, they couldn't go back to The Dark Lord because Draco had failed his 'task' and that wasn't something you walked away from. It was expected he would fail, but it wasn't expected that Severus would take over for him or run away from his duty. Going to The Order wouldn't work because Dumbeldore was dead and nothing else would penetrate the thick skulls of the members.

Severus had said it was best just to lay low, untill they could think of...something. Something, however had not been thought of and they had beey laying low for weeks. It almost wasn't worth it, there wasn't any hope at all that they would get out of this alive and he had told Severus this. His potions master had nodded then said, "Hope is something we create, Draco. It isn't destiny, it isn't already written out for us, it's something we have to make ourselves."

Still he had a hard time 'creating' hope that anything would ever be resolved. Draco thought once he joined The Dark Lord everything would simply fall into place, his life was already planned out for him, all he had to do was follow said plan and he would be happy.

Happy was something Draco hadn't experienced in a very long time. In fact in the last few years there wasn't one moment in his life where he was actually happy or content with his life, as he looked back it seemed he never really had been. His cold and hardened self had blocked out that emotion along with many others that he was told would 'get him nowhere in life'.

A knock on his bedroom door startled Draco from his thoughts, and he breathed a sigh of relief that there was going to be something on the other side of that door to keep his mind occupied for a while.

"Draco, are you still awake?" Severus called from the other side of the door. It seemed the man never rested.

"Yeah." He called back, swinging his legs over the side of this creaky and too small bed, he went to open the door. "What is it?" He asked in the cold tone that had become second nature to him.

"I think you may be interested in what I found." Severus said in an oddly chilling tone. "Or rather what found us."

Panic engullfed Draco, his chest began to constrict as if something had a deathly tight hold on it and refused to let it go untill every last breath had been sqeezed out of his body. He numbly followed Severus out into the hallway, dreading what was to be found on other side of that dingy white wall.

He slowly turned the corner that led to the kitchenette and the livingroom, if a room that small could be called that because there was no possible way you could do any 'living' in it. Draco stopped dead in his tracks behind Severus who had led him to a sight he thought he would never see.

Hermione Granger, best friend of Harry Potter, was sitting at the three legged kitchen table, obviously bound by an invisible force and looking incredibly hacked off. Strangly enough she didn't look scared in least, which unnerved Draco more that he would admit. He had always prided himself on his ability to scare the wits out of anyone he met, except her, he never seemed to be able to scare her.

"Granger?" He asked, although he knew it was her and it sounded utterly stupid comming out of his mouth, as most things these days did. "What-"

"I was just about to ask that myself." Severus said, calmly. "I was comming back inside when I found Ms. Granger lurking about in the trees."

How the hell did she find them? Why did she find them? Where was Potter and Weasley, the three never did much without each other, they couldn't be far behind, right? Severus had continued speaking though and Draco thought it best he try and pay attention.

"I'm going to lift the silencing charm, Ms. Granger you have alot of explaining to do." True to his word he lifted the curse, Draco half expected her to scream and fight but she just stared at them. "Well?" Severus asked.

She spoke calmly and evenly, so much so that it frightened Draco a bit. "I couldn't make it fit, all the events of last year, they didn't add up."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Draco demanded.

"If you'll let me finish, Malfoy I'd be happy to tell you." She gave him her infamous glare and it made him feel a little better that as least he could count on Granger to be the same. "The whole situation at the end of last term didn't make any sense, Dumbledore trusted you," She gestured to Snape, "For some reason he belived in you and it isn't often that Dumbledore is wrong, at least with something like that. I tried to peice it all together, but couldn't and that is why I'm here."

"To..."

"To piece it all together."

Draco's head was swimming, how could she put aside that fact that they were, at least in the eyes of the wizarding world, evil and dangerous? Just to get the truth, "I don't understand why you would come here, aren't you afriad that-"

"That what? You'll kill me?" She snorted.

"Well, yes." Draco answered.

"No."

Severus had stayed quite all through this, showing no sign of suprise or any emotion of any kind, not that it was something new for him. Now he spoke, "Why aren't you afraid, Ms. Granger? I murdered Albus Dumbledore, what's to stop me from doing the same to you?"

"I don't belive that you _wanted_ to murder Professor Dumbledore. I belive it was the only choice."

Severus's head whipped around to look at Draco who had a look of astonishment on his face. They all knew Granger was smart, she was in the top of his class, she read everything, she remembered everything, but how had she known...how had she deduced without any proof at all that which they were trying so hard to get out?

"It seems that we have alot to talk about." Severus said, taking out his wand and removing the invisible bindings that had, up untill now held Hermione to the chair. "What do you say, Draco?"

A/N: I previously wrote this story, or at least the general idea of it under the name_ I Can't Get Started_, well it sucked. lol. So I'm re-writting it, re-doing the plot and re-posting it here hoping that the second times a charm.


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